The Carlisle Police Department is currently experiencing a shortage of officers after a few officers were deployed due to their involvement in the army, as well as several retirements.
Due to the shortage, the Police Department will be working more closely with state troopers, as two patrols staffed by state troopers will help in surveilling the Carlisle area. While the State Police will be monitoring the Carlisle area, including Dickinson’s campus, Dickinson’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) is still fully staffed and will keep 24/7 coverage of the College campus.
The Dickinsonian reached out to State Police who confirmed that their “Troop H, Carlisle Station is assisting Carlisle Borough PD by providing supplemental coverage.” However, they deferred to Carlisle Police Department for supplemental details.
The shortage in law enforcement, however, is not new nor exclusively local. Since the events of George Floyd in 2020, the amount of law enforcement personnel all around the country has been in decline, explained the chief of Carlisle Police Department, Taro D. Landis. However, Landis’ outlook on the situation was positive.
He explained the situation as ‘cyclical’: just as Carlisle Police Department was once the largest police department in Cumberland County and helped its neighbors, now it’s simply the other way around. DPS, Carlisle Police Department and the State Police all run the same radio system and assist one another when they can, said chief of DPS, Dolores Danser.
When asked about the topic of State Police, Danser responded positively, saying they have a “very good working relationship with them.” Danser also said that the local law enforcement “are aware that if they don’t want to send a student to court, they can contact us, and we will hand that student over to student conduct to face consequences.”
Dickinson, however, is not the focus of either Carlisle Police Department or State Police as opposed to the greater Carlisle area. Although police do have concurrent jurisdiction around campus, Landis said that students are “relatively well-behaved.” He also applauded DPS’ work surveilling the area and keeping students safe.
Should students become involved with State Police, Danser urges them to “cooperate” and be kind, as State Police go through vigorous amounts of training and have lots of patience with students. In the unlikely event that a student feels that they have been treated unfairly, DPS will help them file a report.
Dickinson College President John E. Jones III weighed in on the discussion, saying that “while the PA state police troopers are responsible, the fact of the matter is this is not their usual mission. As I’ve said to the first-year students, you have to have a great level of respect when dealing with State Troopers who come on campus.”
In any case, students can always contact DPS so that an officer can observe the situation, although they cannot interfere.
